Lead The Field Part 2 of 4: Acres of Diamonds
October 30, 2009 by dr. lam
We can learn a lot from stories because stories speak to us and stick in our minds and our hearts. Nightingale talks about the founder of Temple University, Russell Herman Conwell, a lawyer, an editor, and then a clergyman, born in 1843 who raised enough money to found this institution when students without funds asked him how they could attain a higher education. Conwell accomplished his record fund-raising activity by recounting this simple tale…
In Africa, a farmer heard the marvelous stories of untold wealth that other farmers were achieving by finding diamonds on nearby properties. Filled with lust, the farmer sold his property and began to travel around looking for diamonds. He spent his entire life looking for incredible riches but ultimately died a broken man. In a final act of desperation, the man threw himself into the river on his former property and drowned himself.
A day later, another man walked by the river and across the way saw this gleaming rock. He picked it up, brought it home, and put it on his mantle. A traveler came by one night, and the man opened the door to this stranger for dinner. After dining, the traveler walked by the fireplace and saw on the mantle the most amazing diamond he had ever beheld. He asked, “Where did you find this rock?” The man replied, “Oh, this is a pretty big one, but I have seen hundreds of them all around here by the riverbank.” The traveler replied, “Do you know that this is a diamond, one of the largest that I have ever seen and that it can make you richer than your wildest dreams?” The man replied, “No, I didn’t”.
Of course, the moral of this story is that we too often look for diamonds on other people’s properties when the diamonds are right under our feet. We just don’t know what a diamond looks like. We never tried to find out. We just kept looking around and around everywhere for the riches but they were always right in front of us. When we search endlessly from job to job, companion to companion, or whatever in an unsettled fashion we ultimately arrive at nothing. We squander the wealth under our feet because we are always looking elsewhere for it. And it does not exist elsewhere. It exists right here.
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5 Responses to “Lead The Field Part 2 of 4: Acres of Diamonds”
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I could never tire of this story.
I love stories!!!
Wonderful story with a great moral! Happy Halloween everyone!!!
thanks phebey and heather! happy halloween too!
Hi Dr. Lam
Nice to find another nightengale fan. I love the way he tells the acres of diamonds story (although his version is a bit different from conwell’s)
A plastic surgeon with a life philosophy blog… That is (as you mention in the about) pretty unexpected. It is also very refreshing
thanks taiyo. appreciate the comment and your readership!